Second Choice, Second Chance
by Story Weaver1
Summary: Post Human Path. Jack is deep in self loathing until an elf named Puck presents him with a choice: Regret or Hope.


I played through the Human path then the Fairy path and I found numerous hints that Jack already knew some things the second time through, besides the combat commadn, link etc stuff.

Disclaimer- I don't own Radiata Stories or characters in this fic.

Tears welled up in Jack's eyes as he cradled Ridley in his arms. The dying vessel reached up to touch his cheek.

" Jack...you...and me...forever..." Then her eyes closed and she went limp.

" RIDLEY!" Jack shot up in his sleep. He looked around and realized he was at the camp he made after leaving Radiata. He left immediately after defeating the Silver Dragon and had been wandering around the world ever since. ' Every night. Why do I have to relive her death EVERY DAMN NIGHT?' He asked himself. He sighed, got up and opened his tent to make a snack.

He was greeted by the sight of a elf with white hair that wore a red and purple tunic and hoes. He was cooking something by his campfire.

" Hello! Want some hot chocolate?" The elf asked with a cheerful grin. Jack reached for his sword and pointed it at the elf.

" Who are you and what are you doing in my camp?" He demanded.

" I am Takio and I'm here to assassinate you for perventing the change over." Takio said with a smile. Jack gripped his sword tighter and went into a defensive stance.

" I won't go down easy, I beat Lord Zane after all." Jack replied coldly.

" I'm just kidding." The elf said with a wave of his hand. " Now put that sword away, I'm not here to fight."

" Then why are you here?"

" I'm here to relieve you of your pain."

" My pain?"

" Oh yes. You have repeating heart pain right? Chronic deloveus syndrome is what it's called." Jack looked at him with a 'WTF' kind of expression, the elf sighed. " "Within the hour you will no longer be pained by the loss of your beloved Ridley."

"How? She's dead! Not even elves can bring back the dead!" Jack shouted angerily. 'You can't bring back the dead.' He thought.

Not that he hadn't tried.

He had used every resource available to him.

-Claudia from the Vareth Institution was little help, her boyfriend never became more then glob in a tube that said her name.

-Kain from Olacion Order started preaching about the God's will even though at that point most knew that the Dragons were responsible for what "the Gods" were supposed to be and the "Miracles" the priests did were actually a form of magic.

-He even raided Genius' collection of books and manuscripts for anything that could help him.

Everything he tried had failed. and now when he had finally given up hope of ever seeing his love again, this elf shows up out of nowhere and makes him start hopping again.

' It's too painfull to hope.' He said to himself. " OW!" He shouted the elf flicked his forehead.

" Anyone home?" Jack roared and swung his sword. The elf easily dodged and wagged his finger disaprovingly.

" Tsk Tsk, no need for violence Jack."

" GET TO THE POINT!" The elf sighed.

" You're no fun. The point is I can send you back in time to the day you and Ridley met."

" The Knight Selection Trials." Jack said automatically he almost relaxed his guard but raised it again.

" No one has power over time! Not even the dragons! How can you do this?"

" It's very complicated and technical, you wouldn't understand."

" Try me."

" I will make a tear in the time space continum, remove your sense of self from your body, pludge it through the tear and fix any and all variable that could create a time distortion paradox."

" Huh?"

"Trust me it'll work."

" Why should I?"

" Geez, do all humans get this paranoid after lossing their loved one?"

" No, just the ones that were tricked into killing them." Jack said harshly at himself.

" Jack you have two choices:1. You can refuse to believe me and spend the rest of your life wandering the world with your self loathing and regret. Not to mention the reocrruing dreams."

The elf conjured up an image of Jack as an old man, stumpling through a plain that was as empty and lonely as he was.

"Or 2. You can accept my help and get a chance at a happy ending."

He conjured another image of Jack as an adult with an arm around Ridley as they watch their children practice fencing with each other.

Jack's heart trobbed terribly at the second image and he looked down

'If only I followed her, that could be my real life.' He thought.

'It still can be.' A voice spoke in his mind. His head shot up to see the elf looking intently at him.

" Aasu, Assuming that I do agree to this... What do you get in exchange?"Jack asked, unable to keep the hope from his voice. The Elf smirked inwardly. The human was weakening.

" The Dragon Scale armor, the Holy Gram Sword, Valiant mail and the medal you got from the King." The elf replied. Jack took out the items and put them on the ground.

" Why these?"

" The scale armor shows you beat not one but two dragons, the holy sword proves you defeated a divine being, the valiant mail shows the general status you gave up when you lefted and the medal identifies you as the Hero of Humanity. All these things prove your are a far better knight then your father, that was your dream wasn't it?"

" So you're asking for my dream in exchange?"

" One dream for another sounds fair I think."

" I guess..."

" Oh and one more thing."

" What?"

" I want...the Arbitrator."

" WHAT?"

" The Arbitrator."

" But it's last thing I have from my father! It's the family heirloom. I can't just give it away." The elf shrugged and started to fade away.

" Alright, if you'd rather have a memento then your girlfriend, then I'll just leave. You clearly care about it more then her." This started a rage in Jack. One could almost see fire in his eyes.

" FINE! TAKE IT! TAKE EVERYTHING!" He shouted at the transpartent elf. Then he started shaking and tears fell from his eyes like rain. " ...I just want Ridley back...to hold her...tell her I love her."

The elf came back and collected the items. Then he placed his palm against a large rock and swirling circle of light appeared on it's surface.

" Just dive through this portal and you will arrive at the morning of the Knight Selection Trials." He smiled at Jack. " Pleasure doing bussiness with you." Jack gave the elf a dirty look and approached the portal.

" Is there anything I should known before jumping?"

" Oh yeah there is." The elf put a hand to chin as if thinking hard. " Since the events of and after the Trials technically haven't happened yet, you won't remember anything except fighting skills."

" But then how will I remember to follow Ridley?"

" If love her as much as you say you do, then it will stay in your heart regardless of memories." Jack hesistated. " Are you afraid of testing your love?"

" No. At the Gold Dragon Castle I realized it was my purpose to protect Ridley."

" Then why do you hesitate?"

" It's just that...well..."

" Yes?"

" It took forever to memorize where everything was in the Castle. I got lost several times a day, I even stumpled into the girl's bathroom!" The elf started in disbelief.

" I got this big lecture from the Captain on curtesy, privacy and stuff. It was really embarrassing."

" That might happen, might not." the elf replied once he got his composure back.

" Ok. It doesn't matter really. I'd go through it a thousand times to be with Ridley."

" Then go get her Tiger." The elf gave Jack a push and he fell through the portal. Then he placed his palm before the swirling lights and they vanished.

" And that Master Alex, is how you create new timelines." he said to the open air. A teenaged boy with pointed ears and wearing 20th century earth clothing came out from behind a rock.

" That's awesome Uncle Puck."

" Yes it is. Now do you want to learn how to watch different timelines?"

" Yeah!"

" Then here we go."

Then they vanished as well

And that's all he wrote.

If you haven't seen Disney's Gargoyles, some of this might be confusing.

Puck is a fairy from a magic Island called Avalon. He was having fun with David Xanatos and his family when he was summoned back but ignored it. Long story short he became Alex's(Xanatos' son) magic teacher.

Puck was doing this so he could watch Jack's life like a movie and wanted to see what would happen if Jack had followed Ridley instead of going to the Castle.

The objects he wanted meant nothing, it was all for his amusement.

Don't forget to review!


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